Falling Worlds; Zelink, Modern Magic AU (The Legend Of Zelda)

Final Battle (45)

The voice was dark, evil, otherworldly... but his face, as shrouded as it was in shadow... was that of her father.

"Are you so surprised to see the face of the one who raised you?" the dark voice cackled.

Link stepped beside her and put his hand on her shoulder. "That's not your father."

Zelda couldn't take her eyes off of the man standing in front of the throne. He looks just like him... "I... I know. It can't be. I'm not going to fall for it," she replied quietly.

"Fall for what?" he asked, "the truth?"

She glared and clenched her fists. "The truth? You are no more the truth than I am a beacon of destruction," she spat. "Who wrote that prophecy, you?"

"Of course not... It is not the truth that you wish to destroy me? Those who destroy are the villains are they not?"

"It will make me no more of a villain than someone pulling the ivy off of a tree so the tree may live."

"Poetic," he sneered. "But it's impossible to stop me."

"Just as impossible to stop me," she challenged with the confidence she no longer had.

"You? You are already breaking," he said with a dark laugh. "How about I kill your friends right here before I set to work destroying you?" he asked. As his threat fell in the air, Link, Invee and Lark flew forward across the throne room and up the stairs to join the monster. "Or you could voluntarily die, and I shall spare them."

"Yeah, right," Zelda spat, but the fear was mounting ever greater inside of her. What could she do? What was there to be done?

Voluntarily die... Her eyes widened. I... I think I get what they meant now. That dream... the stone using me... Me using to stone... This isn't to be a big final battle, me against this evil king... It's just...

Her legs bent as she slowly knelt on the floor. She held her hands in her lap as she lowered her head.
"Zelda, what are you doing??" Link yelled.

The king laughed. "Excellent choice."

But he was wrong.

She wasn't giving up... she was giving in.

Giving in to the truth.

For her friends to live... for Hyrule...

She had to give it back. This battle was impossible for her to win... for she wasn't the one to win the fight. In order for victory to be found... she had to...

Take it away. I freely give these awakened powers back to the stone. I submit to your will, please...

"Zelda, no!" Link yelled, "fight him!"

Save my friends, save Hyrule. This is all I have to give. Take the power, take what's necessary. That monster cannot be allowed to win.

A sharp light flashed in front of her so brightly it stung her closed eyes.

The light faded, and when Zelda opened her eyes again she found herself in an empty throne room. She stood up and looked around, waiting for something to happen.

That same light appeared in front of her again, and three colored figures stepped out of it.

"Zelda..."

"Through your actions, you have proven yourself to be the true, mortal manifestation of our beloved sister."

Zelda knelt once more. "I don't know anything about what is truly going on... But I don't want my friends to die. I don't want Hyrule or the surface to be destroyed..."

The figure emitting the blue light lifted Zelda's downturned face. "You decided to sacrifice yourself to give your powers back to the stone, where they belong. They have been tempered against evil by your blessed loving spirit, and strengthened by your trials and tribulations."

Zelda pressed her lips together as she looked at what she knew now were the three goddesses. "That dream... It was you speaking to me, right? Why couldn't you just tell me what I had to do? Why make me figure it out on my own?"

"Becuase it was always to be your decision, sister."

"I... I'm not sure what to say. Am I... really... your sister?"

"Mortal or not... You are the one we lost. The one the stone then found."

"You have fulfilled your purpose..."

"It is time for you to come home."

Zelda stood up shaking her head. "Come home? No, I don't want to leave!"

"Don't want to leave?" asked the red lighted figure.

"Why would you ever want to stay? Your friends are winning," as she spoke she waved one green hand, revealing to Zelda the scene of what was happening at that moment in the throne room. 

"They will be safe... Why not join your sisters in the place you belong?"

The once dark stone was bursting with light, and Zelda watched in awe as the form of her father shifted, seemingly blowing outwards to reveal a wretched dark shape. "This world is all I've known," she said softly.

As Link held out his hand his shining sword appeared, and he did not hesitate to drive it through the monster.

"I don't want to leave my world," she said softly, relief pouring through her at seeing Link alive and fighting.

"Do you realize what you are saying?"

"You have the choice of divinity over mortality... And you choose a mortal life?" the red lighted figure asked.

Zelda had eyes only for Link as the battle ended. The monstrous king defeated... Link walked slowly over to the stone, over to her vantage point...

He struck the glass around it, and it shattered. He held a hand out to the stone. "Zelda..." he said. "What did you do...?" he bent to his knees, his touch trailing down the stone. "Where have you gone?" his voice was choked with the sadness flowing down his cheeks.

"Why would you choose this world of death and suffering?"

Zelda did not look away. "Because that world is not only death and suffering... It is also life... love... and happiness." She reached out towards Link, and it was as if her fingers brushed against his. "And I don't want to leave him to live his life alone."